
Jeff played in the same Leicester Schools side as Peter Shilton. After joining Coventry City in 1966 he had a rapid rise to fame and captained the club in the FA Youth Cup final against Burnley in 1968. Six months later he was in the first team and soon became a fixture in the side, forming an awesome central defensive partnership with George Curtis. The following season as City qualified for Europe Blockley was a virtual ever-present and briefly developed another strong relationship with Roy Barry. For three seasons the tall, strong centre-half was consistently one of the best defenders in the country and a key factor in the club’s excellent defensive record during the period.
At the age of 21, Jeff became one of the club’s youngest ever captains in 1971 and won six England Under 23 caps plus an appearance for the Football League. In October 1972, soon after the arrival of Joe Mercer and Gordon Milne he was sold to Arsenal for £200,000 in order to fund the signing of Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison. Two days after joining the Gunners Alf Ramsey called him into the full England squad for his one and only international against Yugoslavia at Wembley. The move to Highbury did not work out and in 1975 he returned to the Midlands to join Leicester and later Notts County. Since retiring from the professional game he has developed a successful engineering business at Nuneaton and lives in Leicestershire.
• Defender
• Joined from apprentice (aged 17 years 8 months) under ?
• Left for Arsenal for £200,000 (aged 23 years) under Joe Mercer
• Substitute appearances: 0
• Unused substitute: 0
• Bookings: 5
Own goals (2)
1971-72
3 November 1971 v Newcastle United A
1972-73
30 September 1972 v Chelsea H


















































































































































































































































































































































































England U23, 6 caps, 1 goal
1971-72
24 November 1971 England U23 v Switzerland U23, Ipswich, 1-1
5 January 1972 England U23 v Wales U23, Swindon, 2-0
16 February 1972 England U23 v Scotland U23, Derby, 2-2
1 June 1972 East Germany U23 v England U23, Magdeburg, 2-2, goal
4 June 1972 Poland U23 v England U23, Warsaw, 0-3
7 June 1972 USSR U23 v England U23, Kiev, 0-0
4 further caps with Arsenal (total 10 caps, 1 goal)
1 full England cap with Arsenal
Representative game
15 March 1972 English League v Scottish League, Middlesbrough, 3-2